As Tim mentioned this morning in Leading Off, Mayor Rawlings says he’s been working since January on the speech he’ll give at Dealey Plaza on November 22 as the city commemorates the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. Not a surprise, since it will probably be the biggest public address he’s given during his time as mayor. He’s got it honed to a tight 8 to 9 minutes. But it took a while to get there — countless drafts, some heavy editing and shaping. He’s been keeping it under wraps. But we have our ways. So, here is an exclusive look at a section of the speech that was excised, according to a source, sometime around September.
“Now, a lot of people will tell you how great Dallas was before President Kennedy came to town, and the tragic events of that day unfolded. And, yeah, it was pretty good. But in many ways, Dallas in 1963 was still miles away from what it could be, where it is now.”“For example: did you know there wasn’t a single Pizza Hut in town back then? Not one.”“Heck, forget about the corporate headquarters being here. Back then, ol’ Dan and Frank Carney were still getting up and running in Kansas. Did you know they started Pizza Hut in 1958 with a $600 loan from their mom? It’s true. Man, I bet me and the council spent 600 bucks on meat lover’s pizzas just in October.”“I think that whole Uber deal made all of us stress eat a little. Whatever. It’s almost the holidays and I wear sweaters.”“You know what else we didn’t have in 1963?”“High fives.”“I know, right? Can you believe it? We didn’t get those bad boys until sometime in the late 1970s.”“Don’t worry. Ol’ Mayor Mike isn’t going to rap your ear off, debating who did or didn’t invent the high five.”“I’ve always been in the camp that says Glenn Burke invented it during a Dodgers game in 1977, but hey, we can agree to disagree.”“That’s something we also couldn’t do in 1963. Which brings me to what I want everyone to remember today.”“Even if you’re the kind of monster who prefers Domino’s, we’re all in this together. We are all Dallasites.”“Unless you like Papa John’s.”
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In February, several of the mayor's colleagues cited the fractured relationship between City Manager T.C. Broadnax and Johnson as a reason for the city's chief executive to resign. The mayor is now peddling a different narrative.
